Welcome one and all to the Guitar Wars. These battles feature songs nominated by you, the folks from the Realms. This isn’t about who the better guitarist is, or what band is better. This is about the instrument and the song. Great solos are something that make us sit up and take notice, but the guitar is more than that. There are great riffs like the one in Beat It, which was not done by Eddie Van Halen. You know, that awesome riff that permeates the song is also the part that EVH had nothing to do with.

There are ways that the guitarist wraps his playing around the melody and makes a perfect fit that’s so subtle and imperceptible that most times it gets missed. And of course, there are the solos, some with blinding speed and some played so eloquently and with so much feel that you can get lost in one sustained note after another.

You are hear! Hendrix, Clapton, Lifeson, Atkins, Page, Abasi, Santana, Morello and a host of others will be popping up. Come on in and check out the virtuosity of these and others. Find new songs you can add to your shuffle or just reminisce on songs you may not have heard in a while. Enjoy.

Listen to each song and pay attention to the guitar part and vote for the song whose guitar part you liked better. Maybe you’re a fan of the slide, or finger-picking or electric solo, but give each song a chance and then vote for the performance that you liked better. We’ll go round by round and match by match until we have a winner. That song will be crowned best overall guitar song to listen to on the Realms. All the songs will have the main guitarist or guitarists listed along with the band’s name and the name of the song. Critique it if you want, and judge it as you will, but keep in mind, this isn’t a battle of what band or artist is better. I for one may not be a fan of a certain band or solo artist, but that will not keep me from voting for a song of theirs if that song has one of the most gorgeous guitar solos ever heard.

Matchups will close on the fifth day after they are posted.

So, without further adieu, hear we go:

SHARP DRESSED MAN – Billy Gibbons/ZZ Top

CATCH ALL THE FISH – Brad Paisley

ROUND 1 MATCHES:
1 Chet Atkins (Orange Blossom Special)Vs Buddy Guy (Baby, Please Don’t Leave Me) Chet Atkins wins 11-9
2 Clapton/Allman – Derek & the Dominos (Layla) Vs Joe Satriani (Oriental Melody) Satriani wins 13-8
3 John Mayer (Slow Dancing in a Burning Room Vs Duane Eddy (Rebel Rouser) Duane Eddy wins 11-10
4 B.B. King (The Thrill Is Gone) Vs Alex Lifeson – Rush (Working Man B.B. King wins 16-5
5 Jimmy Page – Led Zeppelin (Black Dog) Vs Eric Clapton – The Beatles (While My Guitar Gently Weeps) Eric Clapton wins 12-7
6 Adrian Smith – Iron Maiden (Sea of Madness) Vs Mick Jones – The Clash (Lost in a Supermarket) Adrian Smith wins 12-9
7 Pete Townshend – The Who (Pinball Wizard) Vs Friedman/Becker – Cacophony (Concerto) Friedman/Becker wins 8-7
8 Ronnie Montrose – Montrose (Space Station #5) Vs Allen Collins – Lynyrd Skynyrd (Free Bird) Allen Collins wins 13-6
9 Angus Young – AC/DC (Fling Thing/Rocker) Vs Steve Clark – Def Leppard (Switch 625) Angus Young wins 12-9
10 J Mascis – Dinosaur Jr (Pick Me Up) Vs Snakefinger (Climbing the Ladder) J Mascis wins 16-4
11 George Lynch – Dokken (Mr Scary) Vs Henry Paul – The Outlaws (Green Grass and High Tides) Henry Paul wins 14-7
12 Yngwie Malmsteen (Arpeggios from Hell) Vs Brian Setzer (Switchblade 327) Brian Setzer Wins 12-9
13 Sterling Morrison – Velvet Underground (Oh! Sweet Nothin’) Vs Daniel Ash – Love and Rockets (Yin and Yang and the Flowerpot Man) Sterling Morrison wins 12-7
14 Zakk Wylde – Ozzy Osbourne (No More Tears) Vs Robin Trower (Day of the Eagle) Robin Trower wins 16-4
15 Ronaldo/Moore – Sonic Youth (Total Trash) Vs Tosin Abasi – Animals As Leaders (CAFO) Tosin Abasi wins 13-7
16 Jerry Cantrell – Alice in Chains (Man in the Box) Vs Mick Ronson – David Bowie (Moonage Daydream) Jerry Cantrell wins 11-8
17 Larry Reinhardt – Captain Beyond (Dancing Madly Bacwards Vs Gary Moore (Parisienne Walkways) Larry Reinhardt wins 12-9
18 Jim Heath – Reverend Horton Heat (Galaxy 500) Vs Tony Iommi – Black Sabbath (Dirty Women) Jim Heath wins 11-10
19 Chuck Berry (Johnny B Good) Vs K.K. Downing/Glen Tipton – Judas Priest (Breaking the Law) Chuck Berry wins 17-3
20 Alvin Lee – Ten Years After (Working On the Road) Vs Kurt Cobain – Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit) Alvin Lee wins 14-6
21 Randy Bachman – BTO (Blue Collar) Vs Alexi Laiho – Children of Bodom (Kissing the Shadows) Randy Bachman Wins 11-6
22 Joanne Shaw Taylor (Kiss the Ground) Vs Chris Cheney/The Living End (E Boogie) Chris Cheney Wins 9-7
23 Billy Thorpe (Tangier) Vs David Gilmour/Pink Floyd (Comfortably Numb) David Gilmour wins 13-6
24 Bryant/Menuck – Godspeed You Black Emperor (East Hastings) Vs Tom Scholz – Boston (Foreplay/Longtime) Bryant & Menuck win 12-7
25 Viv Campbell – Dio (Stand Up) Vs Balsac & Flattus – Gwar (Immortal Corruptor) Balsac/Flattus wins 11-8
26 Carlos Santana (Open Invitation) Vs Mike McCready – Pearl Jam (Yellow Ledbetter) Mike McCready wins 13-5
27 Yngwie Malmsteen (Far Beyond the Sun) Vs Carlos Santana (Into the Night) Yngwie wins 10-9
28 Glenn Tipton – Judas Priest (Hellion/Electric Eye) Vs Kirk Hammett – Metallica (The Thing That Should Not Be) Glenn Tipton wins 13-8
29 Bob Bogle – The Ventures (Walk Don’t Run) Vs Terry Kath – Chicago (25 or 6 to 4) Bob Bogle wins 11-9
30 John Sykes – Whitesnake (In the Still of the Night Vs James Burton – Dale Hawkins (Susie Q) John Sykes wins 12-8
31 Jimi Hendrix (Bold As Love) Vs Adam Jones – Tool (Forty Six & 2) Jimi Hendrix wins 17-2
32 Dick Dale (Miserlou) Vs Les Paul (How High the Moon) Les Paul wins 10-8
33. Mark Knopfler (Going Home) Vs Ritchie Blackmore – Deep Purple (Highway Star) Ritchie Blackmore wins 15-5
34. Tom Morello - Rage Against the Machine (Guerrilla Radio) Vs Jack White – White Stripes (Icky Thump) Jack White wins 9-8
35. Noodles – The Offspring (Genocide) Vs Larry Reinhardt – Captain Beyond (Raging River of Fear)
36. Roy Buchanan (The Messiah Will Come Again) Vs Billy Corgan – The Smashing Pumpkins (A Song for a Son)
37. Russ Freeman – The Rippingtons (Brave New World) Vs Siepen & Olbrich - Blind Guardian (Nightfall)
38. Billy Gibbons – ZZ Top (Sharp Dressed Man) Vs Brad Paisley (Catch All the Fish)

I liked Brad Paisley.

I prefer earlier Top to MTV Top but Billy Gibbons (who was supposed to be Hendrix' favorite guitarist) takes this one.

I don't care one way or the other about Brad Paisley's song, but Gibbons just cooks throughout the enitre song. He shows a decent range of skill and his guitar has a distinct edginess to it, almost an emotional quality.

Billy Gibbons

Sheesh. Can't I vote for both of these to advance? ZZ Top isn't my favourite band ever, but I prefer their style over a great deal of what's come up so far, and I'm a huge Brad Paisley fan.

My avatar votes Catch All The Fish.

i went into this one like no way anyone could beat the BEARDS. but unfortunitly i was wrong. if you truely listen to CATCH ALL THE FISH – Brad Paisley it has so much more interesting guitar work. the level he is playing on is crazy. not to say that zztop isnt amazinga(cause they are). but brad pulled it out.


p.s. i do not like that brad paisley song, it just wins on the guitar strength alone.

Brad Paisley's guitar work was more impressive between these two songs.

I am sure that the anti-country sentment will run strong enough to make it irrelevant, but Sharp Dressed Man just isn't Billy Gibbons' finest moment on guitar.

I like Sharp Dressed Man more, but this isn't about my favorite song, it's about the guitar work.

That Zed Zed Top (as we call them in Canada) song didn't do much for me at all, while Brad Paisley was playing up a storm on that track. I haven't heard Catch All The Fish before, and I have to say I was mighty surprised and impressed by how good Paisley is.

Brad Paisley

I'm kinda with NicMonsteR here. I saw that ZZTop was in this and thought shoe-in. But Brad Paisley surprised me. Pleasantly.

Going with Billy Gibbons. I really dug the Paisley song as well. My favorite part was the fiddle.

Voting for Brad Paisley. I like his guitar work on "Ticks" better, though.